Posts Tagged ‘real people’

Want to be recognized as a subject matter expert? One of the easiest and fastest ways to do so is to actively answer questions. I’m not talking about the theoretical questions on your FAQ page. Get out there and answer real questions posed by real people. Provide a thoughtful and helpful answer, and you will have gained one fan for sure, and perhaps an audience of fans who come later looking for the answer to the same question.

Here’s how this works.

1. Find the Right Questions

Finding the right questions is so important. This starts internally, believe it or not. Spend some time really analyzing your business. What makes you money? What leads people to buy from you?

You’re goal in becoming an expert is to draw in more customers. So you need to be careful that you are answering questions that mesh with what you offer. You could end up wasting a lot of time answering the wrong questions if you don’t do your internal inventory first.

Now here’s the bad news. The best questions may not get asked. People who may be potential buyers may not even know enough to ask the right questions. Its the classic example of the buyer who only asks about price, and doesn’t put enough thought into return on cost. As the seller, you wish they would ask you all about value. Unfortunately, people don’t always know the right questions to ask.

Here’s the trick you must learn. If you can’t find anyone asking the right questions, find the questions that lead in toward that right question. You’ll have to lay a trail of bread crumbs. Sometimes that trail will start with a person asking how to do something themselves, and eventually lead them to realizing they would be far better off hiring you to do it for them. Other times, they are already looking to buy, they just don’t have a clue how to go about it. Walk them in by finding the questions that lead to the right questions.

Remember, the right questions are the ones that lead to a sale. You are going to have to test and track to find out which questions are getting asked often enough and which of those leads down the path to the sale.

Now that you know what types of questions to look for, you need to know where to find people asking them. There are a few popular places, and if you do a little research you will turn up a lot more. Start looking on Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers. You can also check out LinkedIn’s Answers section. Perhaps one of the best sources of questions are industry forums. Search for active forums within your industry and join up. Also, Twitter is a great place to find people asking questions. The only problem with Twitter is there is no organization so you need to do some serious digging. You should probably go there after you know what kind of questions you are looking for.

2. Give Good Answers

Once you find the right questions, you can focus on giving really good answers. This is the easiest part. You know your stuff, don’t you? So just get in there and give helpful advice.

Try to word your advice so that it is helpful not just to the one person asking the question, but to a broader audience. What you write in your answer will be popping up in search results for years to come. Nail the answer, and you have bought your self some valuable online real estate.

3. Own the Question

So you’ve found some good questions and knocked it out of the park with your answers. Don’t let it go to waste. When you start answering questions, you will find that some of the answers you give lead to more traffic on your site and to sales. Its time to take ownership of those high value questions.

Doing this is very simple. Take your answer and turn it into a full length article. Include links back to your site and other resources. Make it a step by step answer.

Now, take that article and re-purpose it on multiple high traffic sites. Get it posted on places like Squidoo, eHow, Ask.com, EzineArticles, and more. You already know that people are looking for the answer to the question. If you do this, they will not only see your short answer on a forum, they will find your longer, more informative answer. By posting on high traffic sites, you improve the chances that your answer will be seen in top search results. Own as many of those results as possible. Be the expert of that particular question. And with each result, you have cast a net for future customers.

Remember though, you can waste a lot of time and effort if you do not first identify the questions that will convert best to sales and the ones that are being asked most often.

Any questions?

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photo credit: M i x y

Bradford Shimp helps small businesses and professionals build their web presence and increase sales at BroadRiverCreative.com.

The best marketing that can ever take place for your business is when one friend recommends your business to another friend. That close bond of trust between two friends cannot be replicated on a large scale. Yet, you can tap into the power of that trust by using the referral.

You do this by helping spread the real stories that real people tell about your business. You can also play a big part in encouraging those stories to be told.

You have doubtless seen ads where real customers tell their stories. Even if you doubt just how real these customer are, there is a good chance that you trust what they are saying a little more because of the perception that they are real. You don’t know the people in the ad, but you can relate to them because they are real.

Why do you have an easier time relating to what a customer is saying about a product than to whatever is coming directly from the company’s marketing department? Here’s why. A marketing department often thinks from inside the company. A real person thinks about how the product or service betters his or her life. In other words, a real person thinks like you or me.

What does all of this mean for your business? Well, for starters, whenever you get the chance, shut up and let happy customers do the talking for you. They will have a very easy time connecting with other potential customers, because they have been in the exact same place. In this way, a customer can often do a better job communicating your message than you can. They speak from a place of trust and focus on the points that are going to matter most to their friends. Often, they will tell friends about you after they hear their friends complain about something or mention a need. They have a relationship and out of that they can provide a recommendation that would be worth gold if it could actually be bought.

Good referrals can’t be bought, by the way. They must be earned. I don’t mind if you offer a reward for referrals, I just don’t think its that useful. If you want consistent referrals, you need to build consistent communication with your customers. You can ask for referrals at the end of a sale if you want. But the fact of life is that people make suggestions through daily interactions. Your customer may not know anyone who needs your product today, but they may have a conversation a year from now where a referral will make perfect sense. Your job is to keep your message fresh in that customer’s mind, even if the sale happened a year ago. You do this by providing useful information via blogs, newsletters, webinars, and more.

Keeping the conversation going is probably the best way to ensure that your story is being spread. You put your effort on keeping the story alive in the minds of your customers and fans. They do the job of spreading the story, one to one.

Since asking for referrals one time is not the most effective thing (you will basically get a list of cold leads), use the capital of trust that you build up during the sale to ask for something else instead. I like to get a few things from the customer. Of those things, a testimonial is an important component. Ask your customers for testimonials that you can use in your marketing. And if you get a great testimonial, take it further by asking to sit down with the customer, record an interview and make a case study out of that relationship.

And there is one more thing that you can ask for at the end of the sale that will help spread your story. Ask your happy customers to post online reviews. Sites like Yelp, Google Maps, and Angie’s List can drive referrals and make it possible for customers to post comments and reviews about your company.

This is a better use of the after the sale ask, because that review or testimonial will be viewed by people who are considering your service. That is the magic of letting customers spread your story. Whether they do it one to many with online reviews and testimonials, or if they are doing one to one referrals, real customers can communicate with real customers and get your message across better than you could ever hope to.

photo credit: hectorir

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com